March 2017

Economist Alex Tabarrok has a fascinating post at the Marginal Revolution about how the structure of Bombay is intimately tied to the American Civil War. Cotton prices skyrocketed–between 1860 and 1863-1864 prices rose by a factor of four on average and at times by a factor of 10. As cotton exports from the United States fell, exports from Persia, Egypt and especially India boomed.